Baltimore Police charge student and jailed teen in Brooklyn Homes mass shooting

Baltimore Police charged two more people, a 14-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man, in the July 2 mass shooting at a block party in the Brooklyn Homes housing project of South Baltimore.

City leaders and federal authorities announced the arrests at a news conference Thursday. The boy was arrested at school. The 18-year-old was already in jail in connection to his alleged role in a May shooting in Lauraville and a prior gun charge.

Four people now face criminal charges related to the Brooklyn Homes shooting that killed two and wounded 28 others. Police said they believe 10 or more people opened fire.

Aaron Brown, 18, of Lauraville in Northeast Baltimore, has been charged with 75 counts including conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and assault and weapons charges, acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley said Thursday.

“Even though we are announcing these two additional arrests,” Worley said, “I want to be very clear this investigation is not ending anytime soon.”

He added, “Any reports of this investigation winding down are completely untrue.”

Police did not provide the name of the 14-year-old because of his age. Charging documents for his case remain sealed under state law. Worley said the boy is facing 18 charges, including attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Mayor Brandon Scott expressed frustration that someone so young was accused of reaching for a gun.

“When I was his age and we had a conflict, that would end up in a fistfight. But a fight is not going to end or ruin your life,” he said. “We shouldn’t be talking about a 14-year-old being involved in a mass shooting because they had a handgun and they don’t know how to resolve their conflicts.”

Online court records show two prior, pending criminal cases against Brown, the 18-year-old. He’s charged with attempted murder, assault and gun charges in connection to a shooting May 19 at the corner of Harford Road and Grindon Avenue. No one was injured in the attack. He’s also charged with underage possession of a firearm in a separate incident.

Brown was arrested in connection to the two prior cases earlier this month.

In the Brooklyn Home charging documents, police wrote that Brown arrived to the block party with three other people including Tristan Jackson. Police charged Jackson, 18, two weeks ago with attempted murder and murder conspiracy charges related to the Brooklyn Homes shooting.

Brown, meanwhile, agreed to speak to detectives, the officers wrote.

“Mr. Brown stated that he was at the block party. He admitted to firing a handgun into the roadway at approximately three individuals who were standing in the parking lot shooting at him,” police wrote in the charging documents. “Mr. Brown stated that he was shot in his hand while firing his weapon. Video shows that after suffering a gunshot wound to his hand, Mr. Brown fled toward 8th Street and Stoll St., in the company of Tristan Jackson, where Mr. Jackson fires the handgun numerous times.”

Police also wrote that they recovered a handgun with an extended magazine from the basement of Brown’s home.

Previously, authorities charged a teenager who they say was recorded holding a gun in a video posted to social media. His attorney has said it was a toy.

On Wednesday, city leaders released a 100-page report that examined the police response to the Brooklyn Homes shooting. The review found police supervisors and patrol officers took a hands-off approach to the crowd, choosing not to intervene or request more units, even as 911 calls from citizens grew more frequent and more desperate.

Aaliyah Gonzalez, 18, and Kylis Fagbemi, 20, were killed in the shooting.

At the press conference, Worley said the number of tips coming into police has dropped off since the shooting.

With the number of arrests rising to four, Worley added that the department is still actively working to identify other shooters by analyzing hundreds of hours of video, ballistics evidence and interviewing witnesses.

“It’s been two months, which is a long time, but as far as for a long investigation, it isn’t a long time,” Worley said. “I know it was a mass shooting, but this is different than most of your other mass shootings around the country.”

Reporter Brenna Smith contributed to this article.

justin.fenton@thebaltimorebanner.com

tim.prudente@thebaltimorebanner.com

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